Thinking

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Friday February 20, 2009

When God tells us through His Word to do something, that means we have the choice of whether to do it or not; otherwise God wouldn't have to tell us to do it! The Bible therefore tells us we have a choice of what to think:

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.

By telling us what to think about, God is telling us we have a choice whether to think this way or not! Not only that, but there are places in the Bible that God tells us what NOT to think:

Romans 13:14 (NIV)
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the [flesh].

Therefore we have a choice of what to think about! When thoughts "come to us" we have the choice of whether to dwell on those thoughts or not; whether they are good thoughts or bad!
Notice that we're not even supposed to be THINKING about gratifying the desires of the flesh! Many people are so busy thinking about what NOT to do, they end up doing it anyway, just because they're always thinking about not doing it!! Thinking about not doing something is the most useless thing you can possibly do!!

God's Word tells us to "take captive" every thought to make it obedient to Christ:

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

In other words, we need to be careful what we spend time thinking about, and change our thought patterns if they don't line up with God's Word! How do we do that? One way is by speaking the Word of God over a bad thought by simply by memorizing and quoting Philippians 4:8:

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.

By the time you're done saying that verse, you've spent enough time thinking of it that you usually can't even remember the bad thought you were having before!

The important thing is that we have the power to think about or not think about things, and we can use that power to become more positive-minded people!

Did you ever notice that in Philippians 4:8 there isn't a single negative thought that is acceptable to think about? Let's keep our thinking in line with God's Word, and keep a positive attitude!

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your Word, which gives me the power to change my thinking. Help me understand Your Word and change my thinking with it, so I can walk in Your ways.
In Jesus' Name, Amen

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